EUROPE has been buried by heavy snowfall as severe weather continues to hit Austria, Germany and Sweden, but could the brutal winter weather be heading to the UK?

The winter chaos has blocked roads, caused severe delays on train services and shut schools. At least 17 people have reportedly died because of the heavy snowfall - a nine-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree in the German state of Bavaria. And in Austria rescuers had to battle to reach a snowboarded who had got lost after going piste at the resort of Schlossalmbahn.

Several railway lines in the Alps were closed because of the snow, lorries and cars got stuck for hours on a highway in south-western Germany.

Two sections of the A8 autobahn in the south-east were closed, and drivers had to spend the night in their cars.

The Bavarian Red Cross and a government agency came to the aid of drivers.

A lorry driver in northern Norway described on Friday morning he had been stuck since Thursday 5pm on a mountain road, forcing him to sleep in his cabin overnight, and other motorists had been stuck in their cars.

The UK has so far escaped the winter season without severe snow, but this could change before the end of the month, according to long-range forecasts.

The Met Office forecasts snow for the east in the next couple of weeks and frost which could become “widespread and severe.”

The agency added: “During the last week of January and into early February, there is an increased likelihood of cold weather being established across all of the UK.

“This would bring a greater risk of snow, ice and widespread frost, particularly across northern parts of the country.

“However, there remains uncertainty over the extent of the cold weather and how long it will last, and it is still possible that some milder and wetter interludes will intersperse this generally cold period, especially in the south.”

Europe weather: Trains have been halted and public service paralysed across Europe (Image: EPA )

The weather is expected to turn after the weekend, when temperatures could climb as high as 13C.

It is towards the middle of the month when things will turn more unsettled and changeable and temperatures will dive below average for the time of year.

Bookmaker Coral has this winter as 4-6 to enter the record books as the coldest ever, with fears growing over the brutal cold spell arriving by the end of January.

Harry Aitkenhead of Coral said: “We’re yet to really experience freezing temperatures but there’s a feeling that we can’t escape them for much longer and when they do arrive they’ll be here to stay.

“It has forced us to make this winter odds on to the coldest we’ve ever had and there’s every chance it’ll be entering the record books.”